Ten years after they were fired, two former employees of a now-closed Jackson Township ammunition business will get paid with the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The defendants — Star Air, its successor Akron Reserve Ammunition, and the top executive of both companies, Robert R. Custer — have agreed to pay $302,000 within three years, according to the settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Akron.

The case involved two Star Air employees who drove company vehicles loaded with ammunition to gun shows.

In early 2003, West Virginia authorities cited one of the workers for hauling an excess load without a commercial driver's license, operating an overweight trailer, driving without a log book and driving a commercial vehicle without displaying the company name and other information, according to court papers.

The cited driver alerted a co-worker to the violations, and both men refused to drive until the problems were fixed. The company assigned their shows to other workers and eventually removed the men from the payroll, according to court papers.

The two workers filed complaints with the Department of Labor, and after a lengthy process, in 2011 the government ordered Star to rehire the workers, give them back pay with interest and pay their attorneys. By then, Star was closed and Custer was operating Akron Reserve Ammunition.

Last year, the Department of Labor filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking a judge to enforce the order, which called for the defendants to pay more than $600,000.

The case was settled last month for half of that amount, but if the defendants default on the agreement, the court can order them to pay the full judgment which has grown to nearly $686,000 with interest and attorney fees.

The defendants are also prohibited from discriminating against other employees who are protected by the federal whistleblower laws.

A call seeking comment was left for Custer at Akron Reserve Ammunition's Jackson Township office.